Background: Malignant behavior and radioresistance, which severely limits the efficacy of radiation therapy (RT) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), are associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are used as a therapeutic tool in a variety of tumors. The aim of this study was to reveal the effect of tumor suppressor microRNA-34c-5p (miR-34c) on NPC development and radioresistance, as well as to confirm that exosomes derived from MSCs overexpressing miR-34c restore the sensitivity to radiotherapy in NPCs. Methods: Potentially active microRNAs were screened by cell sequencing, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database analysis, and analysis of clinical serum samples from 70 patients. The expression of genes and proteins was detected by Western blotting, quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR), and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration and radioresistance of NPC were detected. Luciferase reporter assays were used to verify the interactions of microRNAs with their downstream targets. MSCs exosomes were isolated by ultrafiltration and verified by electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking technology. Results: The expression of miR-34c was associated with the occurrence and radiation resistance of NPC. In vitro and in vivo experiments indicated that overexpression of miR-34c inhibit malignant behavior such as invasion, migration, proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in NPCs by targeting β-Catenin. In addition, we found alleviated radioresistance upon miR-34c overexpression or β-catenin knockdown in NPCs. Exosomes derived from miR-34c-transfected MSCs attenuated NPC invasion, migration, proliferation and EMT. Moreover, miR-34c-overexpressing exosomes drastically increased radiation-induced apoptosis in NPC cells. Conclusion: miR-34c is a tumor suppressor miR in NPC, which inhibits malignant behavior as well as radioresistance of tumor. Therefore, exogenous delivery of miR-34c to NPCs via MSC exosomes inhibits tumor progression and increases the efficiency of RT. Combination IR with miR-34c-overexpressing exosomes may be effective treatment for radioresistant NPCs.

Accumulating evidence has shown that Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3) is thought to be a promising target for cancer therapy as STAT3 is frequently overexpressed in a wide range of cancer cells as well as clinical specimens, promoting tumor progression. It is widely accepted that STAT3 regulates a variety of cellular processes, such as tumor cell growth, survival, invasion, cancer stem cell-like characteristic, angiogenesis and drug-resistance. In this review, we focus on the role of STAT3 in tumorigenesis in ovarian cancer and discuss the existing inhibitors of STAT3 signaling that can be promisingly developed as the strategies for ovarian cancer therapy.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important pro-angiogenic factor. Accumulating data have indicated that VEGF is involved in tumour metastasis. However, the mechanism through which VEGF regulates nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) metastasis is largely unknown. This study aimed to examine the biological function of VEGF in NPC metastasis and its underlying mechanism.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common malignant tumor in Southern China and South-East Asia. Regardless of initiative high response to radiotherapy, parts of patients still have relapses and metastases. It is reported that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is highly expressed in most of NPC and is a poor prognostic factor. Targeting EGFR therapies including monoclonal antibodies and EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), offer different benefits and toxicities for patients with NPC. Herein, we summarize the clinical evidence of anti-EGFR therapies in the management of NPC and provide a direction for the treatment and research of NPC in the future.

Purpose: The prognosis of inflammation-related indicators like lactate dehydrogenase/albumin ratio (LAR) and the platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is not yet clear. Our objective is to establish and verify the nomogram using LAR and PLR ratio for the first time to explore the prognostic value in NPC. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective collection of 1661 patients with non-metastatic NPC admitted to our hospital from 2010 to 2017. The final variables of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were selected by Cox regression analysis to establish nomograms, and the methods to verify the prediction precision and discriminative ability of the nomograms were concordance index (C index), the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calibration curve. The risk stratification was carried out through the nomograms and compared with the current staging system by the Kaplan–Meier methods. Results: Multivariate Cox analysis resulted that age, plasma Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV) DNA, T stage, N stage, white blood cells (WBC), PLR and LAR were independent prognostic risk factors for OS and PFS, and sex is an independent prognostic risk factor for OS. The C-indexes of OS nomogram were 0.722 (95% CI: 0.706– 0.738) and 0.747 (95% CI: 0.717– 0.777) in the training cohort and validation cohort, which were statistically higher than the current 8th AJCC staging system (0.646 and 0.688). The C-indexes of PFS nomogram were 0.696 (95% CI: 0.680– 0.713) and 0.690 (95% CI: 0.660– 0.720), which were also statistically higher than the current 8th AJCC staging system (0.632 and 0.666). Otherwise, ROC curves and the calibration curve for probability also confirmed satisfied consistency with actual observations. Conclusion: LAR is a novel useful independent factor in NPC. The proposed nomogram LAR and PLR resulted in more accurate prognostic prediction than current staging system for NPC patients.